Astronomers claim ninth planet exists, but is invisible

Ever since Pluto was removed as the ninth planet, we are left with Neptune marking the last known planet of the Solar System. In a recent research, astronomers claim that there is a ninth planet out there, but invisible to telescopes.

Astronomers have asserted that there is a ninth planet lurking beyond Neptune in our Solar System, it’s just invisible to current telescopes which is why we haven’t spotted it yet.

Surhud More, a scientist at the University of Tokyo told the Washington Post, “Every time we take a picture there is this possibility that Planet Nine exists in the shot.” Also, an astronomer at the California Institute of Technology, Michael Brown said that he feels ‘eternally optimistic’ about the finding of Planet Nine.

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Since the Planet Nine is too far away, it would be around 160,000 times dimmer than Neptune that makes it difficult to spot. Astronomer at Pennsylvania State University, Kevin Luhman even described it like reaching a ‘brick wall’, reported The Sun.

Moreover, as per the data gathered, if this ninth planet actually exists, it would be around four times the size of Earth and ten times the mass. Also, it would take between 10,000 and 20,000 years for it to make a single pass around the sun. NASA even said the Planet Nine might be 20 times further from the sun than Neptune.

In order to confirm its presence, researchers are now looking for various ways to detect the planets, including looking for its heat glow, wrote Mirror.co.

Hints about the existence of Planet Nine are dated back to 2014 after the discovery of a number of mini ice-worlds in the outermost edges of the solar system, that all followed similar paths around the sun. Astronomer Scott Shepherd that discovered the mini ice-world argued, “If things are in the same orbit, then something’s pushing them.”